Flexible pipe structure



Nov. ll, 1930. E. H. GOLD ET AL 1,781,457

FLEXIBLE PIPE STRUCTURE Filed Oct. 29. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. l1, 1930. E. H. GOLD Er Al.

. FLEXIBLE PIPEl STRUCTURE Filed Oct. 29. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 11, 1930. E. H. GOLD ET AL 1,781,457

FLEXIBLE PIPE STRUCTURE Filed Oct. 29. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 owey.

Patented Nov.. ll, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT IoFFlcr-z,

NGRRRT n. GoLn, lor EvANsToN',

. sun RUSSELL AssreNoR To vAroR ILLINOIS,

TRUST COMPANY EXECUTORS OF SAID AND EDWARD A. RUSSELL, or

CAR HEATING COMPANY, A coRroRATroN or New YoRx; MARGARET CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; INC., F CHICAGO, JAYNE GOLD AND BISCAYNE EGBERT H. GOLD, DECEASED FLEXIBLE PIPE STRUCTURE Application illedlctober 29, 1927. Serial No. 229,755.

together by any suitable forni of coupler, such as has been used with the rubber hoses heretofore generally employed for making this connection. 1

This. improved conduit structure -consists of a plurality of tubular conduit members,

someof which are formed with elbows, thel ends of each 'adj acent pair of members being telescoped one within the other and provided 2'0 with means for sealing the joint against the escape of steam, without interfering with relative rotation between the members about the axis of the telescoped members. The several elbows and swiveled'joints between the members are so arranged that although one end of the flexible structure is ri 'dly su .ported from the car train pipe, t e coup er mounted at the other end of the structure is permitted a practically universal movement in any direction to allow for .the relative movements between the cars and to permit the two couplers to be secured together pr disconnected.

The particular object ofthe present invention is to provide improved means for swiveling the telescoped ends of the conduit members so as to provide increased bearing surfaces and more advantageously support the load. More speciically, one member formed with an elbow adjacent the open' end is provided with an inner annular bearing surface near' its end, and a bearing socket coaxial with the annular bearing but spaced there- `from is formed within the face of the elbow turn opposite the open end. The end por- 'tion of the mating conduit member is swiveled or pivoted within the annular bearing, and has a forwardly projecting portion which l is j'ournaled within the socket bearing. This provides two spaced coaxial bearings for the members whereby the twisting strains are distributed, and the conduit structure is rendered stronger, more iiexible and more durable. l

Other objects and advanta es of the invention will be more apparent romthe following detailed description of one approved form of apparatus. Y.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation of the assembled flexible conduit structure.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken substantially onth'e line 2--2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 isa vertical section taken substantially on the line 3-1-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a verticalsection through er horizontally extending end section of the conduit, this view beingl taken substantially on the'lines 4-4 of Figs. 3 and 7.

Fig. '5 is a 'perspective view of the inner telescoping end portion of one of the conduit 'members Fig. 6 is a plan view of the construction shown in Fig. 4, part of this view being taken in horizontal section substantially on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4. v

Fig. 7 is a vertical section taken substantially on the line 7-7 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the lower horizontal conduit Section, detached. f Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the end portion of the lower elbow member, with which the horizontal section shown in Fig. 8 cooperates.

l The flexible conduit structure consists of la plurality of rigid conduit members A, B, C, D and E, which are Swiveled together, as

hereinafter explained in detail. The uppermost conduit member Ais adapted to support the entire assembly by being attached to the end of the car train pipe,A or more usually to the end train pipe valve, indicated by dotted lines at F in Fig. 1. The Vcoupler member G, which may be of any approved form, is mounted at the Jfree end of the conduit member E at the lower horizontally extending end of the iiexible structure. This coupler G is adapted to be mated with a similar coupler of the' adjacent car. A meansshown generally at His provided the lowhooked end 5 engaging in a bracket arm 6 extending upwardly and outwardly from one side of the upper elbow conduit member B,

and projecting over the lower horizontally projecting conduit member E. The lower end of the link 4 is hooked within the closed end of al U-shaped member 7 which projects through a compression spring 8. The lower hooked ends 9 of member 7 engage about an annular washer 10 which forms an abutment for one end of the compression spring 8. A similar washer 11 at the other end of spring 8 is engaged bythe hooked ends 12 of a U- shape member 13 similar to member 7. The lower closed end of the member 13 is hooked within the eye 14 at the upper end of turnbuckle 1. This assembled supporting connection is not only sufficiently iiexible to per.-

mit the necessary movements ofthe lower horizontally extending conduit members, but the compression spring 8 will also give sufficiently to permit the necessary extension of the conduit structure when the train is rounding curves. It.will be apparent .from the description which follows that when the coupler G is disconnected from a mating coupler, the supporting means H will hold the assembly C, D, E,'and G from swinging backwardly and downwardly about the swiveled joint at the lower `end of elbow member B. The rearward inclination of the swiveled joint at the upper end of the elbow B will also tend to prevent the complete conduit assembly from swinging to one side or the other about the upper'supporting conduit member A. The entire structure will thereforel tend to remain in substantially the postion shown in Fig. 1, even though the couplers G are disconnected.

, The upper conduit member A is` provided '4 with an externally threaded upper end portion 15 whereby it is engaged with the down- 'wardly projecting end of the car train pipe u or end train pipe valve, indicated at F. The

upper conduit member A will usually be formed of two sections 16 and 17, joined by a couplingcollar 18. The lower section 17A 1`s provided at its upper end lwith an outsta nding collar 19 having an upper spherical end surface 20 with which engages a mating concave surface at the lower end of a similar Vcollar 21 Von the upper section 16. The -couuling collar 18 has ab upper inwardly extendirg flange 22 adapted to .engage behind the collar 21, and is interiorly threaded at Y 23 to engage the threaded outer portion of collar, 19. A limited lateral adjustment is permitted between the mating curved 'end surfaces of. the sections 16 and 17 to secure the proper vertical alignment of the conduit structure. Also different upper adapter secftions 16 can be substituted for the ones here rection or another or provided with different sized end portions 15 in order to adjust the conduit structure to and support same from any type of car trainpipe or end valve.

The inner cylindrical wall 24 of the conduit member A is practically continuous from one end of the member to the other to form an unbroken steam passage of constant diameter. The lower portion of conduit A is inclined rearwardly at a slight angle, as indicated at 25 in Fig. 2, for a reason that will be more apparent hereinafter. The member A is provided on its outer surface with an enlarged annular collar 26, and the lower end portion 27 of member A is of reduced external diameter so that the outer surface of this portion 27 and one end of the collar 26 form two walls of the chamber for receiving the sealing means, hereinafter described.

- The elbowmember B has an inner steam passage 28 of substantially the same circular cross-section as the passage 24' in the member A, so as to form a continuation thereof. The member B is curved successively in planes at Substantial right angles to one another so as to form a pair of elbow joints leading directly one from the other. The first elbow joint extends downwardly and forwardly from the connection with upper conduit member A, as bestshown in Fig. 2. The second elbow extends laterally from the lower end of the first elbow (as best shown in Fig. 3) toconnect with the `:upper end of the intermediate vertical conduit member C. The upper end of the elbow member B has itsbore enlarged, as indicated at 29, to an inner diameter substantially the same as the outer diameter of'collar, 26 on member A. TheA outer portion of this surface 29 forms an annular bearing, in `which the collar 26 is rotatably journaled. An annular gasket 30 is housed within the annular chamber formed between the bore 29 of member B and the extension 27 of member A. Preferably, an annular metallic ferrule 30 encloses the innerl face and bottom ofthe gasket. vvA spring 31 confined between one end of the ferrule 30 andthe shoulder 32 at the inner end of the enlarged bore 29 servestofforce the gasket into engagement with the inner face of collar 26 and to expand the gasket against the surface 27 so as to effectively seal the joint between the Amembers A and B against the escape of steam from within the conduit. A` boss 33 is formed on the outer curved portion of the first elbow of member B, and in this boss is formed a bearing socket 34, which is coaxial with the conduit passage in the end, portion of members A and B, and with the shown, these sections being curved in one dii side of the end 27 of member A, and terminates in' a stud 36 journaled in the bearing socket 34.. Preferably an antifriction bearing ring 37 is confined bet-Ween the stud 36 and socket 34. The extension arm 35 has an arcuate cross-section (forming a true continu- .atron of a portion ofthe end section 27 of member A), so that it Ywill t snugly against the inner wall of the passage in elbow mem- 'p ber B and offer the minimum of obstruction to the continuous passage of steam through the conduit. The end of the arm 35 which carries the stud 36 is enlarged as shown at 38 and housed within an opening 39 in the boss 33 so that the inner surface oi portion 38 is substantially Hush. with the innersurface of the conduit passage in member B, as indicated at 40. It will now he apparent that the annularbearing 29 and the socket 34form two longitudinally spaced coaxial bearings for the collar 26and stud 36, respectively,v on the conduit member A, 'the auxiliary socket bearing 34 and stud 36 serv-4 ing to take up the twisting strains that would ordinarily be thrown upon the main annular bearing between collar 26 and surface 29, vso as 'to materially lincrease the strength and life of the conduit structure. .Furthermore,'

these spaced coaxial bearings serve to preand thus materially increase the fiexibility of the structure.

In order to hold the members A and B in this assembled relation, a collar 41 is threaded at 42 onto the end portion of member B, and' -has an inturned upperV flange 43 adapted to engage behind'the collar 26 on member A. The lower edge portion of the collar 41,is scallopel or indented, as indicated at 44,.and

a locking screw `45 which is screwed into a. boss 46 on elbow member B is engaged in one of these indentations 44 so as to lock the collar 41 in its applied position. Obviously, by removing the locking screw 45 the collar 41 may be unscrewed and the members A and lB disassembled in order to renew or adjust the .sealing means or for any other reason.

The upper end of the vertical conduit section C is formed with a horizontally project-V ing elbow portion 47 having an end portion 48 which telescopes within the lower end of the elbow member B. The mating end portions of'theiconduit members C and'B are substantially the same inall respects as the mating portions of members A and QB which have just been described in detailas will be apparent from an inspection of Figs. 2 and 3. It will be observed. that the forwardly ro,- jecting arm 49 on member C (correspon ing to the arm` 35 on member A) projects along the bottom inner surface of the lower elbow ofl steam through the conduit as httle as inv member-B so astd impede the passage` possible. double elbow bend in member B will now be apparent. If only a single elbow -were employed, the auxiliary socket bearings 34 for the respective ends of the elbow would interere with one another, but by employing' the One of the reasons `for having the two consecutive elbow bends, space 1s proready described. It will be noted, however,

that the forwardly projecting arm 52 at this end of member C extends from one side of the end portion 51 instead of from the bottom like arm 49 at the upper end of conduit C.

rThis is in order to have this arm extend around the outer bend of the singleelbow in member D. It will be noted that the conduit member C is formed of two sections screwed together at an` intermediate point 53. The purpose of this is to permit the locking collars 54 and 55 (corresponding to locking collar 41 on conduit A) to be placed on the conduit vC behind the bearing collars 26.

The lower horizontal conduit member E is threaded at one end 56 to engage with and support the coupler G. The other end of conduit E is adapted to telescope within and be swiveled to the other end of the'lower elbow member D, and since this lower conduit section -E is the one which requires most frequent vrenewal or ad'ustment, a somewhat more .subject matter of this invention maybe omitted. An enlarged collar 57 has an annular bearing within the enlarged bore 58 at the end of conduit D. The externally reduced end portion 59 of conduit member E has a bearing at 60 agginst a shoulder formed within the member so that a smooth inner conduit surface is formed between the two members. A spring pressed gasket 61, quite similar in all respects to the gasket 30,`already described, is confined between the telescoped portions of members E and D. A pair of oppositely extending arcuate lugs 62 are formed on diametrically o posed portions of the collar 57 on member Similarlydisposed arcuate extensions 63 at the end of elbow member D are interiorly grooved at 64 to receive the arcuate lugs 62. These members form a bayonet joint so that by inserting the end of membe'r E within the end of member D and turning the member E through 90 the lugs 62` lio p fianges4 63. A certain amount of arcuate movement is necessary between the two members when in service, but a cotter pin 65 inserted through a lug 66 on member D will engage either one or the other of the lugs 62 to prevent suliicient rotation of member E to permit the members to become disengaged. It will be apparent that the member E and the coupler G carried thereby may be quickly removed by merely takinO- out the cotter pin 65 and rotating member through 90.

It will now be apparent that the four swiveled connections between the sections A, B, C, and E, permit rotative movements in three diffe ent planesl at substantial right angles with one another so that any necessary rotative or translatory movements are permitted the coupler G. It willbe noted that when unsupported by connection with anadjacent car, the members C, D, E and G would tend to swing downwardly and backwardly in the plane of the paper, as shown in Fig. 1. This movement is prevented by the suspen- 'sion device H carried at its upper end by the elbow member B. This entire-assembly, including the member B, is free to swing substantially horizontally `about the vertical member A, but due to the backward inclination of the lower end of member A and the consequent tilting of this upper plane of rotation, anv lateral swin 'ng movements of the assembly just descri ed would have to carry the supported members bodily upward to some extent so that there will be a tendency for the assembly to remain in the normal position shown in Fig. 1. The backward tilting of this upper joint also makes a more compact assembly and brings the center of gravlty .of the supported conduit assembly more nearly under the supporting structure F.

It will be noted that although there are several curves in the stream passage through this conduit structure, the passage has a practically continuous and unbroken surface and is of substantially constant diameter fromend to end of the structure. The only cib` structions are caused by the projecting arms 35, 49 and 52 which extend to the auxiliary side bearings, and these arms are formed so as to conform as nearly. as possible to the walls of the passage. The passage through'- out this improved conduit structure is practically continuous and offers little resistance to the passage of the steam.

Each of the three main bearings where material loads are supported, and which are subjected to considerable twisting strains is provided with the auxiliary, longitudinally spaced, coaxial socket bearings whereby, as' 'explained hereinabove in detail, the strength,

durability and `iexibility of the conduit struc- -ture are greatly increased.

`We claim:

-- In a fiex'ible conduit structureya pair of conduit Sectlons, one of which is formed with an elbow portion adjacent one end of the section, there being an annular bearing 1n this end of the section in which the end portion of the other section is rotatably engaged, there being an extension projecting inwardly from one side portion of the rotatable section adjacent one inner wall of the elbow, and a bearing formed in the wall of the elbow opposite the open end bf the section for the endY portion of this extension. l

2. In a flexible conduit structure, a pau' .of conduit sections, one of which is curved to an extension projecting inwardly along oney inner wall of the elbow with-its'end portion j ournaled within the socket.

3. In a flexible conduit structure, a pair of conduit sections, one of which is curved to provide an Ielbow portion adjacent its end,

bearing and a bearing socket formed in the elbow, the two bearings being coaxial but spaced apart longitudinally .of the conduit,

and is provided interiorly with an annularthe other conduit member having its end portion telescoped within the first member and journaled in the annular bearing, and having a curved arm projecting forwardly into the elbow and fitting snugly against the inner surface of the lirst mentioned conduit member, the end of the arm being formed with a stud journaled within the socket.

4. In a flexible conduit structure, a pair of conduit sections, one of which is curved to provide an elbow portion adjacent one end,

this end being enlarged interiorly to provide an annular bearing surface of greater inner diameter than the interior of the joint, there being a bearing socket formed in the inner wall of the elbow portion opposite the open end of the section and coaxial with the first mentioned annular bearing, the other conduit member having its end portion telescoped Within the end of the lirst member and provided with anA outwardly projecting collar journaled in the annular bearing, a packing means confined between one side of the collar and the linner end of the enlarged portion of the first conduit member, the second mentioned conduit member also having -a forwardly projecting curved arin which extends intol the elbow closely adjacent the .inner surface of one wall .of the elbow and is j ournaled.

at its end in the socket, and thrust-receiving means to prevent separation of the'conduit sections. l

5. In a flexible conduit, a, pair of hollow conduit sections, a third conduit .section formed with inner annular bearings at its ends in which the ends of the other `sections are rotatably mounted, the third section being formed with two consecutive elbow bends curved in planes at substantially right angles with one another, there being a bearing formed in each elbow in coaxial alignment with theA annular bearing at the adjacent end v of the section, and members projecting from first two members projecting into the elbow A naled in the laterally extending elbow of the bends and conforming to the inner curved surface ofthe elbow and terminating in-journals pivoted in the sockets. f

7 In a flexible conduit structure, an upper vertically extending conduit member having a rearwardly inclined lower end, an upper elbow conduit section formed with two consecutive elbow turns Vone extending down wardly and'fforwar'dly and the other laterally, the rearwardly inclined end of the lar, and a packing means confined within the elbow and engaging the conduit sections and one side wall of the annular collar.

9. In a flexible conduit structure, a pair of conduit sections, one of which is -forrned at one end' with an elbow portion, the open end of the elbow being provided interiorly with a bearing surface, and the opposite wall of the elbow being formed interiorly with a bearing socket Coaxial with the' bearing surface, the other conduit membertelescoping within theopen end of the elbow' and being journaled within the bearing surface and having a curved extension projecting along one inner wall of the elbow so as not to obstruct the conduits' and terminating in a stud journaled within the socket and thrust-receiving means to prevent separation of the telescoped conduits. V

EGBERT H. GOLD. EDWARD A. RUSSELL.`

upper conduit 'member being journaled withj in the upper end of the `elbow member, an

intermediate vertical conduit member having i laterally extending elbow bends at its upper and lower ends, the upper end being jourupper 'elbow conduit member, a lower elbow conduit member in one end of which the lower laterally turned end of the vertical' conduit is journaled, a horizontally extending conduit l section journaled ,at`one end in the other end portion of the lower elbow conduit, and an auxiliary flexible supporting connection exv tending from the upper elbow conduit to the horizontally extending conduit member.

8. In a flexible conduit structure, a pair of conduit sections, one of which is formed at one end with an elbow portion, the open end of the elbow being interiorly enlarged to form a bearing'surface, the opposite wall of the elbow being formed interiorly with J -a bearing socket coaxial with the end bearing surface, the other conduit member telescoping wit-hin the open end of the elbow and having an outwardly extending annular collar jourf naled within the end bearing surface and also having a curved extension projecting along one innerwall of the elbow so as not to obstruct the conduits and terminating in a stud journaled within the socket, a removable a'flanged collarvmounted on the end of the elbow and extending behind theannular col- IMI l no 

